Dr. Andrew A. Snelling

Dr. Andrew Snelling is one of the world’s most respected creation scientists specializing in geological studies and also is a passionate speaker for layperson and technical audiences. View resources by Dr. Andrew Snelling.

Education

PhD, Geology, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia, 1982

BSc, Applied Geology, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, First Class Honours, 1975

Honors and Awards

First Prize for Technical Excellence for a paper on anomalous radiometric “dates” of recent lava flows from Mt. Ngauruhoe volcano in New Zealand, presented at the Fourth International Conference on Creationism, 1998.

Second Prize for Technical Excellence for a paper co-authored with John Woodmorappe on the cooling of granites, presented at the Fourth International Conference on Creationism, 1998.

Third Prize for Technical Excellence for a paper co-authored with Dr. Steve Austin on radiometric “dating” of a rock unit in the Grand Canyon, presented at the Fourth International Conference on Creationism, 1998.

Technical Excellence Award for a paper on evidence for regional metamorphism within the creationist timeframe, presented at the Third International Conference on Creationism in Pittsburgh, 1994.

Testimony

Andrew was raised in a Christian family in Sydney, Australia, and his interest in geology began very soon after his conversion to Christianity at nine years of age. His very firm conviction in the authority and veracity of the Scriptures brought him to the creation/evolution controversy early in his teens, so that by the commencement of university studies, Andrew already had a clear scriptural perspective on the literalness of Creation and Noah’s Flood, and an unmistakable call from the Lord for a life-long involvement in creationist ministry.

Field, mine, and research geologist, various mining companies, Australia

Professional Affiliations

Geological Society of Australia

Geological Society of America

Geological Association of Canada

Mineralogical Society of America

Society of Economic Geologists

Society for Geology Applied to Mineral Deposits

Creation Research Society

Creation Geology Society

Personal Information

Andrew completed a Bachelor of Science degree in applied geology at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, graduating with first class honors in 1975. His PhD in geology was awarded in 1982 by The University of Sydney, Australia for his research thesis titled “A Geochemical Study of the Koongarra Uranium Deposit, Northern Territory, Australia.” Between studies and since Andrew worked for six years in the exploration and mining industries in Tasmania, New South Wales, Victoria, Western Australia, and the Northern Territory, variously as a field, mine, and research geologist for three different companies.

Andrew commenced in full-time creation ministry at the end of 1983, first working from Brisbane with the Creation Science Foundation of Australia (later Answers in Genesis–Australia) until late 1998, including three years with Ken Ham before Ham moved to the USA. From 1983 to 1992, Snelling was still required to be a geological consultant to the Koongarra uranium project for Denison Australia PL, subsidiary of the Canadian mining giant Denison. He was also involved in research projects with several Australian CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Organization) scientists, and for more than ten years in a major international collaborative research effort, funded by the US Department of Energy, with ANSTO (Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization) and university scientists across Australia, and with university and government scientists from the USA, Britain, Japan, Korea , Sweden, and the International Atomic Energy Agency, to investigate the Koongarra uranium deposit as a natural analog of a nuclear waste disposal site. As a result of these research endeavors, Andrew was involved in writing numerous scientific reports, and scientific papers that were published in international science journals and books.

In late 1998 Andrew joined the Institute for Creation Research (then near San Diego, CA), as professor of geology. His responsibilities included teaching master’s degree geology courses in ICR’s Graduate School; leading tours to the Grand Canyon, England, Yosemite, and Death Valley; and research and writing projects. Andrew was a principal investigator in the eight-year, ICR-led RATE (Radioisotopes and the Age of The Earth) research project to which he made major contributions in rock dating studies using radioisotopes and in studies of radiation halos (radiohalos) and tracks (fission tracks) in various minerals. He contributed two chapters to the first RATE technical volume in 2000, and three chapters to the second RATE technical volume in 2005, as well as being the primary production editor of both volumes. Andrew’s time at ICR was also spent writing a major two-volume book on Earth’s Catastrophic Past: Geology, Creation, and the Flood (Dallas, TX: Institute for Creation Research, 2009), the sequel to the Whitcomb and Morris classic, The Genesis Flood.

In June 2007 Andrew’s employment began with Answers in Genesis USA as their Director of Research. He initially resided in Brisbane, Australia and commuted regularly as necessary to the USA. But in mid-2011 he moved with his wife to live in northern Kentucky. As a result of joint research, he has contributed to and jointly edited (with Dr. Steven W. Boyd) the book Grappling with the Chronology of the Genesis Flood (Green Forest, AR: Master Books, 2013).

Andrew’s talents have enabled him to be involved in extensive creationist research in Australia, the USA, Britain, New Zealand and elsewhere, majoring on the radioactive methods for dating rocks (and radiocarbon dating of fossils), and evidence for the Flood of Noah. Such research has included the formation of igneous and metamorphic rocks (for example, granites and schists, respectively), all types of mineral and gem deposits, sedimentary strata and fossil graveyards, and landscape features (for example, Grand Canyon, USA, and Ayers Rock or Uluru, central Australia) within the biblical framework of earth history. Technical papers by Dr. Snelling on regional metamorphism and rock dating have won the prestigious “Technical Excellence Award” as best technical papers at the 1994 Third and 1998 Fourth International Conference on Creationism respectively. As well as writing regularly and extensively in many international creationist magazines, journals and publications, Andrew was founding editor in 1984 and served as editor for almost 15 years of the Creation Ex Nihilo Technical Journal (now Journal of Creation), served as the editor-in-chief for the Sixth International Conference on Creationism in 2008, and now serves as editor-in-chief of the online Answers Research Journal.

Andrew has traveled around Australia, the USA, and widely overseas (Britain, New Zealand, South Africa, Korea, Indonesia, Hong Kong, and China) speaking in schools, churches, colleges, universities, and public meetings, to both lay and technical audiences, on the overwhelming scientific evidence consistent with the biblical account of Creation and the Genesis Flood, based largely on his own research.

Dr. Snelling is included in the controlled group of scientists permitted to remove rock samples from the Grand Canyon.

Andrew’s research has demonstrated that a global flood about 4,300 years ago explains many rock layers and most fossil deposits found around the world. Building from that foundation, he has made predictions as to what should be found if a catastrophic global flood actually happened (for example, the existence of extensive, fossil-bearing rock layers deposited right across continents). Additionally, Andrew’s research has indicated that radioactive decay rates have not been consistent in the past, having been grossly accelerated, so the radioactive methods for dating rocks at millions and billions of years old are not reliable, polonium radiohalos indicate granites and metamorphism of rocks occurred rapidly, and the rock evidence overall is consistent with a young earth. He is currently researching the radioisotope dating of meteorites.

Andrew and his wife Kym now reside in northern Kentucky, USA. They have three adult children and four grandchildren. One son and his family are serving in campus ministry with the Australian Fellowship of Evangelical Students on the Macquarie University, Sydney campus; another son is a pediatrician in Brisbane, Australia; and a daughter is serving in campus ministry with the Australian Fellowship of Evangelical Students on the Griffith University Gold Coast campus (Australia).

Snelling, A. A., D. Menton, D. Faulkner, and G. Purdom, “What are Some of the Best Evidences in Science of a Young Creation?” In The New Answers Book 4, edited by K. Ham, 111–129. Green Forest, AR: Master Books, 2013.

Snelling, A. A. “Were There any Volcanoes, High Mountains, and Earthquakes before the Flood?” In The New Answers Book 4, edited by K. Ham, 279–288. Green Forest, AR: Master Books, 2013.

Snelling, A. A. “A Geologist’s Story: How and Why I Became a Creationist.” Chapter 37 in Persuaded by the Evidence: True Stories of Faith, Science & the Power of a Creator, edited by D. Sharp and J. Bergman, 263–274. Green Forest, AR: Master Books, 2008.

Snelling, A. A. “Radioisotopes on a young earth.” In Proceedings of the First Conference on Creation Geology 45. Cedarville, OH: Cedarville University, 2007.

Snelling, A. A. “Advances in igneous and metamorphic geology from a creationist perspective using radiohalos.” In Proceedings of the First Conference on Creation Geology, 5–7. Cedarville, OH: Cedarville University, 2007.

Vardiman, L., A. A. Snelling, and E. F. Chaffin, editors. Radioisotopes and the Age of the Earth: Results of a Young-Earth Creationist Research Initiative. El Cajon, CA: Institute for Creation Research and Chino Valley, AZ: Creation Research Society, 2005.

Snelling, A. A. “Radiohalos in granites: Evidence for accelerated nuclear decay.” In Radioisotopes and the Age of the Earth: Results of a Young-Earth Creationist Research Initiative, edited by L. Vardiman, A. A. Snelling and E. F. Chaffin, 101–207. El Cajon, CA: Institute for Creation Research and Chino Valley, AZ: Creation Research Society, 2005.

Snelling, A. A. “Isochron discordances and the role of inheritance and mixing of radioisotopes in the mantle and crust.” In Radioisotopes and the Age of the Earth: Results of a Young-Earth Creationist Research Initiative, edited by L. Vardiman, A. A. Snelling and E. F. Chaffin, 393–524. El Cajon, CA: Institute for Creation Research and Chino Valley, AZ: Creation Research Society, 2005.

Snelling, A. A. “The relevance of Rb-Sr, Sm-Nd and Pb-Pb isotope systematics to elucidation of the genesis and history of recent andesite flows at Mt Ngauruhoe, New Zealand, and the implications for radioisotopic dating.” In Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Creationism, edited by R. L. Ivey, 285–303. Pittsburg, PA: Creation Science Fellowship, 2003.

Vardiman, L., A. A. Snelling, and E. F. Chaffin, editors. Radioisotopes and the Age of the Earth: A Young-Earth Creationist Research Initiative. El Cajon, CA: Institute for Creation Research and St. Joseph, MO: Creation Research Society, 2000.

Snelling, A. A. “Radiohalos.” In Radioisotopes and the Age of the Earth: A Young-Earth Creationist Research Initiative, edited by L. Vardiman, A. A. Snelling, and E. F. Chaffin, 381–468. El Cajon, CA: Institute for Creation Research and St Joseph, MO: Creation Research Society, 2000.

Snelling, A. A. “Geochemical Processes in the Mantle and Crust.” In Radioisotopes and the Age of the Earth: A Young-Earth Creationist Research Initiative, edited by L. Vardiman, A. A. Snelling, and E. F. Chaffin, 123–304. El Cajon, CA: Institute for Creation Research, and St. Joseph, MO: Creation Research Society, 2000.

Purdom, G. and A. A. Snelling. “Survey of Microbial Composition and Mechanisms of Living Stromatolites of the Bahamas and Australia: Developing Criteria to Determine the Biogenicity of Fossil Stromatolites.” In Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Creationism, edited by M. Horstemeyer. Pittsburg, PA: Creation Science Fellowship, 2013.

Snelling, A. A. and J. B. Mackay. “The role of volcanism in the rapid formation of coal seams: The Walloon Coal Measures of Queensland and New South Wales – a case study.” In Proceedings of the 1985 International Conferences on Coal Science, 641. Sydney, Australia: Pergamon Press, Sydney, 1985.

Purdom, G. and A. A. Snelling. “Survey of microbial composition and mechanisms of living stromatolites of the Bahamas and Australia.” Journal of Creation Theology and Science Series B: Life Sciences 1 (2011):22–23.

Snelling, A. A. and J. B. Mackay. “Evidence of catastrophic deposition of coals and sediments of the Newcastle Coal Measures.” Proceedings of the Nineteenth Symposium on Advances in the Study of the Sydney Basin, Department of Geology, University of Newcastle (1985):110–113.

Mackay, J. B. and A. A. Snelling. “The 1980 Mt St Helens eruptions: The role of volcanism in the formation of coal beds (a modern analogue of ancient coal measure formation).” Proceedings of the Eighteenth Symposium on Advances in the Study of the Sydney Basin, Department of Geology, University of Newcastle, 1984. 95–97.

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Answers in Genesis is an apologetics ministry, dedicated to helping Christians defend their faith and proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ effectively. We focus on providing answers to questions about the Bible—particularly the book of Genesis—regarding key issues such as creation, evolution, science, and the age of the earth.